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(CNN) -- Crew members of a tall ship used for classic adventure films faced a harrowing real-life drama Monday as Hurricane Sandy forced them to abandon ship about 90 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Fighting waves towering 18 feet high, and winds of 40 mph, the group of 17 from the HMS Bounty has boarded two lifeboats hoping for rescue as soon as possible, the Coast Guard said Monday.

Wearing special cold-weather survival suits, crew members were awaiting rescue Monday in lifeboats designed to hold 25 people. The boats also have canopies to help shelter them somewhat from Sandy's pelting rain and winds.

They were 90 miles off shore from Cape Hatteras. I hope we are able to get the full story some day, i.e., where did they come from? Did they set out from the east coast thinking they could get east of the storm?

Square rigged ships can't sail just any direction they want - at least not as much as the more modern rigs - and it is possible they have been trying to get out of the way for many days. The problem for a square rigger is that is always wants to go down wind. And if it always goes down wind it will end up in the eye of the storm.
Escaping a hurricane is done by sailing at a 90 degree angle to the wind. I would think that is just too difficult for a square rigger.

When the Bounty set sail last week, Walbridge believed he could navigate the ship around the storm. After two days in rough seas, he realized his journey would be far more difficult.

"I think we are going to be into this for several days," Walbridge said in a message posted Sunday on the vessel's Facebook site, which reads like a ship's log of its activities. "We are just going to keep trying to go fast."

His wife last heard from him on Saturday when he sent her an email. He told her not to worry about the hurricane.

Didn't say where they sailed from. Staying in most ports would have doomed the ship, but the crew, of course, would have lived. The captain has evidently been lost at sea. He was the first one swept over the side. Ironically, the other casualty is named Christian.

Losing the engines - always a danger with diesel engines in rough seas - doomed the ship. Diesel engines die on ships in rough weather because of the amount of sediment stirred up in the fuel tanks. They can easily clog the filters. But it may have been something else altogether. Last transmission reported taking on 2 feet of water per hour - that would be with bilge pumps operating.

Didn't say where they sailed from. Staying in most ports would have doomed the ship, but the crew, of course, would have lived. The captain has evidently been lost at sea. He was the first one swept over the side. Ironically, the other casualty is named Christian.

Her name was Claudine Christian and she was actually the great x 5 grand daughter of Fletcher Christian.

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